Big Juan plans to stay with Fish next year

Winnipeg Goldeyes DH Juan Diaz, the club's 2009 MVP and the Northern League leader in home runs this season, told the Free Press Thursday he will likely be back in a Goldeyes uniform next season.

The 35-year-old Diaz said he had intended on the 2009 season being his last in pro baseball after a 13-year career. But he says he's changed his mind after what he describes as a wonderful experience in Winnipeg this summer.

"I feel good the way I've been treated in Winnipeg," Diaz said. "It's better than the other places I played.

"The park, the manager, the organization, the fans, I've enjoyed my time with this team. I thought this would end my career, but now I know baseball is not out of my system.

"I still must talk with my wife, but I want to come back, yes. Definitely."

Diaz, a monster of a man at 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, will be welcomed back with open arms by the Goldeyes organization. Voted just last week as the team's most valuable player, Diaz did exactly what the team wanted him to do when they purchased his contract from the Sussex Skyhawks last April -- hit for average and hit for power.

Diaz finished the regular season hitting .317, setting a club record for RBI with 90 and tying the team record for home runs in a season with 29. And no sooner did he get to the playoffs than he cracked a homer in Game 1 here Wednesday night.

Born in San Jose de Las Lajas, Cuba, he broke into pro ball in 1996 in the Dominican Republic with the Dodgers organization. He bounced around the minors for the next six years before getting his one and only chance in the majors in 2002 when he had a four-game cup of coffee with the Boston Red Sox.

It's been a steady minor-league diet for him ever since. He has feasted on Northern League pitching since arriving in the league in 2007 with Joliet and done just about all there is to do in this league except win a championship.

Indeed, his one and only league championship in pro ball came in his very first year in 1996, and Diaz said another one now, particularly in what has been a remarkable season for him, would be particularly satisfying.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 4, 2009 C6